In these Aubergues you are up early and must be in your way by 8 am. After a quick breakfast of cafe leche (coffee with milk), bread and cheese and cold cereal, the day begins. All pilgrims are in a rush to have a quick breakfast and head to the pathway. As I decided not to walk as far this day, I took my time getting my gear together and slowly warm the muscles up.

There was a lot of up and down but the path was well trodden. The speedy pilgrims were already long gone and it was just the slower ones who followed along at a gentler pace. In Osteritz, the first cafe leche was consumed. Janet and I met Rogerio, a Brazilian who is living and working in Arizona and invited him to walk with us as we were only doing about 15 kms and were planning to stop at the Albergue Trinadad de Arre in Arre. This Albergue is 5 kms from Pamplona which would provide an easy walk and, also, provide enough time to visit the city. We decided we would walk another 5 kms to Cizur Menor, find an Albergue to stay, leave our back packs and have a bed reserved for the night then take a bus back to Pamplona for our city tour.

We stopped in Larrasoana for lunch. The cafe/bar was located in a garden that featured an outdoor pizza oven. I had a delicious fruit salad along with another cafe leche. We added three others to our group. Roger from Australia who was going slow because of several large blisters on his foot and an English couple Kelly and Chris. Chris was having problems with his knee. Thankfully Janet had an elastic bandage to wrap his knee. We slowly progressed the ups and downs of the path heading toward Arre located 9 kms away.

It was 13:37 when we strode into the Albergue Trinadad de Arre. This Albergue is located in a church that dates back to 1150. We were shown to our bunk beds in a room of 16. The Fab 3 from England had already registered and Tina from Brugge was also heading for the shower.

After a lovely shower, I headed with Rogerio, Tina, and Roger from Australia to find a pharmacy. In Spain stores are closed from 2 to 5 pm and supper is anytime after 7 pm. Since the pharmacy was not open till 5 pm, we found a bar and had a cafe leche. After picking up band aids, we headed to the grocery store to pick up breakfast and lunch items.

Supper was spinach salad, chicken and yogurt for dessert. I shared this meal with the Fab 3 and enjoyed many laughs with these ladies. I am now sitting in a bar with WIFI to post this and then head back to the Albergue for an early night.

the Albergue is on the left